


50 First Proposals

by asroarke



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Marriage Proposal, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, proposal fic, proposal fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 12:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12653619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asroarke/pseuds/asroarke
Summary: “Tell her we got engaged just so we could get some cheesecake,” he smirked, and, accepting the challenge, Clarke pulled out her phone and started typing away.After that night, it just became a thing they did. Every month or so… really, whenever both of their crazy lives let them grab dinner between shifts, they would go to a new restaurant and Bellamy would fake propose. He got a little more carried away each time. Their fake proposals became an opportunity for Bellamy to unleash some of his most pent up affections for Clarke, an opportunity he desperately needed.OR the forty-nine times Bellamy proposed to Clarke to get free dessert and the one time he didn't care about the dessert.





	50 First Proposals

**Author's Note:**

> Title borrowed from 50 First Dates.
> 
> This fic is heavily inspired by this tradition that I have with one of my best friends where we do fake proposals to get free desserts/drinks at various establishments. I always joke that this would be such a cute love story if we fell in love this way. But, tragically, she is straight, so alas, not our love story. So, now it's Bellarke's love story lol.

It started as a joke, of course. Clarke didn’t get enough fries, mainly because Bellamy had been stealing them off her plate when she wasn’t looking, leaving her still hungry. But, neither of them really wanted to pay for dessert.

“I can tell them it’s your birthday,” Bellamy teased. It was a lie the two of them had used before, quite a few times.

“Wells told me this restaurant checks people’s ID’s now so people can’t just lie to get free desserts,” Clarke huffed. Bellamy let out a groan. Now, he just wanted to get a free dessert just to spite the restaurant for being so paranoid.

“I could propose to you. A lot of places offer free dessert for that kind of thing,” he joked, and Clarke nearly spit out her drink from laughing so hard. Her hair was starting to fall out of the messy bun atop her head as she threw her head back. It was nice seeing her like this, smiling and relaxed. It was a nice change of pace from his stressed out best friend who just hours ago was buried in books in her apartment as she prepared for exams.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Clarke finally said once her laughter calmed down, and Bellamy teasingly bashed his eyelashes at her, which made her crack up again.

“To get a free dessert, I absolutely would,” he deadpanned.

“Nope,” Clarke retorted, leaning back in her seat with crossed arms.

“You really think I wouldn’t?” he asked, challenging her.

“I know you wouldn’t,” Clarke replied with a huge grin as she leaned across the table. He narrowed his eyes at her as he thought this over. It probably wasn’t worth a free dessert, but he would do it just to see if Clarke could keep a straight face as he did it.

“Give me that ring,” he said, gesturing to her right hand where she was wearing the ring Octavia gave her for her birthday a few years back. Clarke tugged it off, biting her lip to keep her laughter under control, before sliding it across the table to him. “Remember, you asked for this,” he whispered, and Clarke threw her hands up, about to argue with him, but he was already getting down on one knee. Her eyes widened, before she started looking around the room frantically. He could see her cheeks heat up when she looked back at him, and now, even he was having a hard time keeping a straight face. “Clarke, I have known you for years, and I have loved you for almost as long,” he finally said, and Clarke covered her mouth with her hand… no doubt to cover up the fact that she was about to start laughing at him. “You are the one, and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” he asked, and Clarke clenched her eyes shut. People watching this probably thought that she was about to cry of happiness, but Bellamy knew the truth. Tears always leaked out of her eyes whenever she held in a laugh for too long, almost always resulting in smeared eyeliner.

She finally nodded at him, and he dramatically put the ring on her finger, before pulling her into a hug. Everyone in the restaurant broke into excited applause.

“I think that was a dessert worthy performance,” he whispered right into her ear, and he felt her bury her face into his shoulder, her laughs vibrating against his chest.

When the room calmed down and a cheesecake was sitting between them, Clarke raised an eyebrow at him.

“I can’t believe you did that just for dessert,” Clarke smirked, passing a fork over to him. To be honest, he didn’t really want the dessert. Cheesecake isn’t even that good, in his opinion. He did it just to make Clarke laugh. He was in love with that laugh.

He rolled his eyes, before taking it. Another couple stopped by their table to offer their congratulations, and Bellamy loved the embarrassed look on Clarke’s face.

“Text Octavia and tell her we got engaged just so we could get some cheesecake,” he smirked, and, accepting the challenge, Clarke pulled out her phone and started typing away.

 

After that night, it just became a thing they did.

Every month or so… really, whenever both of their crazy lives let them grab dinner between shifts, they would go to a new restaurant and Bellamy would fake propose. Sometimes, his proposals were more sincere, while others were direct quotes from movies that Octavia had forced him to watch. It was their little inside joke, and he loved it.

Each time, Clarke struggled not to laugh, and Bellamy struggled to keep himself from admitting that he loved her afterwards, as she playfully teased him about how he proposed to her that time. He got a little more carried away each time, once even kissing her cheek after. There was another time that she kissed his cheek, and he spent that entire night replaying that moment over and over in his head.

Their fake proposals became an opportunity for Bellamy to unleash some of his most pent up affections for Clarke, an opportunity he desperately needed.

But, things changed during his fourteenth proposal.

Clarke had just graduated from med school a few days before, and their friends threw her a party. Clarke was a bit drunk, or, at least drunk enough that she let herself lean on Bellamy more and more throughout the night. He stayed sober, of course. Someone had to make sure she got home okay. And, because he was sober, he could perfectly recall exactly how warm Clarke’s hands were when she gripped his face between them, making the most serious face she could at him.

“You and I need to do a real celebration,” she slurred, and Bellamy couldn’t help but chuckle.

“This is your real celebration,” he reminded, glancing up to see that Octavia was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear Clarke when she admitted she didn’t want a party.

“No, just you and me,” she whined, dropping her hands from his face while pouting. Then, she leaned forward and rested her head on his chest, and Bellamy wrapped his arm around her back.

“What? You don’t want to celebrate with the full squad?” he teased, resting his head on top of hers.

“Just you. Since you’re my favorite,” she mumbled, and Bellamy accidentally made eye contact with Jasper while he smiled at Clarke’s sweet confession. Jasper wiggled his eyebrows at him, and Bellamy swallowed.

“Okay, you and me. We’ll go grab dinner or something,” he replied, gesturing for Jasper to stop teasing him.

So, days later, Bellamy took her out just like he promised. Clarke was so much more relaxed than she normally was, probably because med school was finally behind her. She was beautiful, not that she ever wasn’t. But, the lighting of the restaurant seemed to make her golden hair shine a little brighter than normal. And, maybe it was the amount of wine Bellamy drank, but Clarke seemed to laugh more. Her smile was as bright as always, and Bellamy realized just how in love with her he really was.

They probably sat there longer than they normally did, but neither of them had an exam to study for or a shift to get to, so they enjoyed their night, and drank a bit too much wine.

When the proposal finally started, Clarke’s face was just as red as always, and Bellamy’s probably wasn’t much better. Especially when he momentarily forgot the proposal wasn’t real.

Once she said yes and jumped up to hug him, Bellamy leaned in to kiss her cheek. But, Clarke turned her head, probably to do the same thing, and their lips met for just a brief moment accidentally. Bellamy was about to apologize, to explain what he was doing… anything to keep this from being awkward.

But, Clarke didn’t look embarrassed by what just happened. She looked… disappointed. Disappointed that he jerked away.

And, maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was just that the brief moment with her soft lips wasn’t enough… but, Bellamy crashed his lips back into hers, and it was _everything._ The cheers from the other people in the restaurant were just a soft murmur compared to the sound of his heart pounding itself out of his chest.

They didn’t say anything as they pulled away. Not that there was anything Bellamy could say to her that he hadn’t already said every time he proposed to her. Not that there were words to describe how long he had ached to know what her lips felt like against his.

This time, the dessert was a piece of chocolate cake, which was his favorite. A few more people than normal offered their passing congratulations, and Bellamy felt himself blush more than usual.

Clarke grabbed his hand as they left the restaurant, and Bellamy swears he forgot how to breathe during the entire walk to his car. He was terrified Clarke was going to say that they both just got caught up in the moment, or that it was a mistake.

But, she never did. Instead, she teased him until he agreed to walk her all the way to her apartment door. And, right as he was about to leave, she grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him down to her face so she could press a hard kiss to his lips.

There was no restaurant of applause and cheering this time. Just Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin. And, it was _real_.

 

After the twenty-eighth time he proposed, Clarke was strangely quiet as she dug her fork back into the pie.

“What, no feedback for my next proposal?” he teased, and Clarke’s eyes fluttered up to meet his.

“I was thinking,” she said pensively, and he cocked his head to the side, noticing the lack of teasing tone in her voice. “We might need to stop doing this fake proposal thing.”

“Aww, come on. I thought we agreed we’d keep doing it until we got caught,” Bellamy reminded her, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but we agreed to that before we started dating,” Clarke sighed, leaning back in her seat. He furrowed his brows, not following. “It’s just that you say certain things in a very convincing way, and it makes it hard to distinguish what’s the fake proposal and what’s real,” she explained, and Bellamy had to cover his mouth to keep from chuckling. He couldn’t believe that after all this time, she still didn’t fully get it.

“Clarke, I have never said anything during the proposals that I didn’t mean,” he said seriously, and her eyes widened as the full realization hit. Every time he said he wanted to spend his life with her, every time he called her his best friend, every _I love you_ … all true. Even a year before the first time they kissed.

And, that night, he got to hear those beautiful words from her lips in between breathless kisses. He heard them over and over, as his hands ran up her bare back and her lips travelled across his jawline.

 

After the thirty-seventh time he proposed, she brought up the argument for putting an end to the fake proposals again.

“You afraid I’m gonna say I want to have your babies and buy a house with you?” he teased, pushing the plate toward Clarke. Apple pie was her favorite anyway. “Because, I hate to break it to you, I do.”

“No,” Clarke replied, and he could see the blush creep into her cheeks. “It’s just… what if I thought it was real? Or, you meant it to be real and I didn’t know that?”

Bellamy tilted his head, studying her closely. There was no way she found out about the ring he had found with Octavia a few weeks ago… at least, he hoped not. He had been careful, of course. But, Clarke was smart and might have figured it out.

It wasn’t like they didn’t both know they were heading in that direction. And, they had been together long enough that he could see why the fake proposal scheme might need to be killed off. It would be horrible if one of them thought it was real and the other didn’t.

But, he loved this little thing they did. It was theirs. It was the story of how they got together. It was the story of Bellamy and Clarke.

“Okay, how about this… I promise that you will know if I am really proposing to you, okay?” he proposed, and Clarke narrowed her eyes skeptically at him.

“How?” she asked quizzically, and Bellamy couldn’t help but smirk.

“You just will,” he teased, and Clarke was not happy with that answer. She hated not knowing. She let out a huff before taking another bite of the pie.

She did not drop the subject for weeks, and Bellamy never answered differently. It was driving her insane, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from accidentally saying, “It’s not like you have to wait much longer, anyway.”

 

On the night of his fiftieth proposal, Bellamy was all nerves. Luckily, Clarke didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy arguing with herself over soup choices.

The dinner was just like the rest. They talked about how they should schedule Christmas Day this year, since they had to stop by her mother’s house at some point, but wanted to spend a majority of the day at Octavia’s. He made a few bad jokes, and Clarke offered him a few pity laughs. She curled her hair that night, and kept sweeping it all to rest on one shoulder. At one point, he made her laugh so hard she snorted, before covering her face in embarrassment.

“We gonna take bets on what their free dessert is gonna be?” Bellamy asked, and Clarke let out a slight groan.

“Bell, how can you still be hungry for dessert?”

“I’m not, but you love your free desserts,” he teased, tapping his thumb on the top of her hand before squeezing it.

“Not tonight. I’m way too full,” she sighed, and he bit his lip, nodding. He took a deep breath after he pulled his hand back, and reached into his pocket, grabbing the box the ring was in. Then, he pushed out of his seat, like had done forty-nine times before, and got on one knee. Clarke furrowed her brows at him, cocking her head in confusion. “Bell, I said I’m too full for a free dessert,” she whispered.

“I know,” he grinned, and slowly, the realization danced across Clarke’s features. Her eyes widened, and for the first time, the tears that formed weren’t from trying to suppress laughter. “Clarke Griffin, I have been madly in love with you for years. I love my life with you, and I don’t want to spend another moment of that life not being married to you. Will you marry me?”

She wasn’t as quick to respond this time around, looking almost too surprised to speak or nod. She was looking at him with the same beautiful wonder that she did that night after they first kissed. When her smile finally broke free of her surprise, Bellamy thought he could melt.

“Yes,” she whispered, her eyes full of tears, and Bellamy jumped up to crash his lips into hers quickly. She whimpered into his mouth, and it felt just like the first time they kissed.

The room was still cheering as he pulled away breathlessly. It wasn’t until then that Bellamy realized he forgot to actually give her the ring.

“You’d think after all these times, I’d have remembered the ring part,” he joked, as he slipped it onto her finger. And, if he thought the ring was beautiful when he bought it, he was wrong. Seeing it on her finger for the first time… that was true beauty.

“I’ll let it slide this time,” she teased. He glanced up at her. She was still tearing up, with the most radiant smile on her face. And, he couldn’t believe he was getting to spend the rest of his life falling more and more in love with that smile.


End file.
